In the discussion the qualitative data gained from the interviews is confronted to the assumptions that have been presented. In this context some statements can refer to different assumptions at the same time which leads to the same data being used to illustrate or prove several research points in some cases although they may be only associated to one topic in the category scheme. In the end the discussion is intended to deliver a complete picture of the company’s situation concerning family-friendliness and give recommendations for the aspects that turn out to have potential for improvement. As a first step more information is needed on the situation of the company which helps to draw a holistic picture of the circumstances.
At the moment the company has to go through a challenging time. A cost-cutting program due to a loss in earnings in the first quarter of 2012 and an uncertainty about the future of the economic development within the industry were dominant issues that the company had to face in the recent past.
Discussion of Assumption 1
“Measures that help working fathers to balance job and family increase the competitiveness of a company. But the exemplary company does not (yet) fully exploit this advantage.”
The first part of the assumption has a more general approach and can only be evaluated by researching secondary data. In their study Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010) examined the impact of different measures of family-friendly measures on the attractiveness of a company from employees’ point of view. Therefore they tested how respondents as potential applicants value the different offers of121 “on-site
child care; generous personal leaves; flexible scheduling; and teleworking”.122
According to their findings, all of these benefits had a positive influence on the respondents’ impression of potential employers. But especially flexible working time and “generous personal leave”123 make a company an attractive employer for potential applicants. Therefore Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010) advice enterprises that don’t have the budget to provide various family-friendly measures to at least implement those two. The researchers point out that even if they have conducted their study in Canada it can be transferred to other countries as well.124
121 Cp. Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.98 122 Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.98 123 Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.111 124 Cp. Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.111
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"For example, in Europe, corporate implantation of FFPs may vary depending on the welfare state system. However, studies indicate that more and more European companies are implementing FFPs in order to encourage women’s participation in the workforce, especially in management positions.”125
In Germany the Forschungszentrum Familienbewusste Personalpolitik (2008) comes to a similar conclusion.
Figure 3: Economical Effects of a family-friendly Personnel Policy, Source: http://www.beruf-und- familie.de/system/cms/data/dl_data/7a9ba6c5421b083be7c6ca513f206d1c/Factsheet_BWL_Effekte_081 105.pdf, p.5 (Forschungszentrum Familienbewusste Personalpolitik, 2008)
As Figure 3 demonstrates their investigation more precisely indicates which kind of effects an enterprise can expect from investments into a family-friendly staff policy. The investigation was evaluated by conducting a survey among German companies. With its effect on the company-image the implementation of family- friendly measures helped to increase the number of applications in the enterprises by 26 percent.
The productivity of employees according to the study has grown by 17 percent. The Forschungszentrum Familienbewusste Personalpolitik (2008) even found out that in family friendly companies the average rate of absenteeism is by 16 percent less than in not family friendly enterprises.126
Moreover the study shows that there is a direct relation of the implementation of family-friendliness in companies and the positive development of several factors
125 Bourhis, Mekkaoui, 2010, p.111
27 that are important for the success of a company. Family-friendly companies
“achieve a stronger identification and value up their image… reduce their costs… increase flexibility… and grow in productivity…”127
Therefore the Agentur für Arbeit (2010) values family-friendliness as a big chance for companies to prevail in the challenge of skills shortage as discussed previously.
The company examined in this study already is affected by the challenge of skills shortage and therefore it can be expected that the company at least partly has implemented the topic into its strategy. Flexible working time that belongs to the most attractive benefits for potential applicants according to Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010)128 has been installed at the sample company about ten years ago. The initiative came from the HR manager himself back then and he realizes an increase in employee satisfaction since the introduction. It turns out during the conversation that there is also the possibility of telework, but only for a limited group of employees, due to the concern that employees should have a certain distance to work in their leisure time. Predominantly employees in leadership positions are using telework. Furthermore the company provides individual solutions for problematic cases. However the majority of the employees that have been interviewed weren’t able to name any family-friendly offer.
As the HR manager reports in the interview it has been communicated to female employees that every model to balance job and family can be discussed with the management. The topic has obviously not been communicated sufficiently to the male employees so far as the manager admits that there is not yet the openness in the company that would be needed to talk about the subject of family- friendliness with the fathers.
The researcher started the interview with the expert requesting to name all family- friendly offers that the company is implementing at the moment. After listing flexible working time and the opportunity for parental leave, the expert ceases. This ceasing is very obtrusive and therefore is mentioned even if non-verbal signs were not meant to be taken into account in this investigation. It gives the impression that family-friendliness is treated very much as an inferior topic in the company. In the further course of the conversation this perception is being approved. The HR manager admits that the enterprise does not really have an idea of what kind of benefits could be needed by the fathers working in the company and that the topic of Work–Family–Balance in the region still is seen as a woman’s issue and therefore hasn’t been taken into account by the company so far.
127 Translated from Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2011, p.10 128 Cp. Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.98
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28 Parental leave, which has also been mentioned by the expert, is the second most important benefit for the respondents in the study of Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010).129 But in Germany it is a statutory claim anyway and therefore can’t be construed as being part of the company’s family-friendly benefits.130 According to the HR manager employees always have the opportunity to discuss their special needs for balancing job and family with the HR department that is open to find individual solutions. He doesn’t think that a package of measurements provided to the whole staff would be an appropriate solution for the company though. The interview shows that on the one hand the company realizes that the fathers are increasingly interested in active fatherhood as they more and more apply for parental leave. The expert is aware that it is going to be one management challenge in the future to find solutions that make longer periods of absence possible. But on the other hand the company is unconscious about its employees’ further demands to balance work and family and seems to not have a consistent position towards family-friendliness or at least doesn’t label its benefits as being family-friendly. The expert states that the HR department indeed is very open towards this topic and he is aware that the demands of fathers have changed as he is a father himself but the enterprise doesn’t seem to have started yet to think about a change towards a family-friendly policy. It was the expert who initiated the change in working time ten years ago. Now it is up to the company to take the next step, probably on the initiative of the HR manager again.
Discussion of Assumption 2
“Many fathers working at the company belong to the new generation of active fathers but they feel like not being sufficiently supported in their demand for reconciling work and family.”
The respondents of the interviews all indicate that they undertake tasks in childcare and education and being single or main-earner in the family at the same time. But only a few of them have applied for parental leave. One reason for that is that the men can be classified as different father figures. Figure 4 shows different father roles structured in Sinus Milieus by von Briesinski, Walter (2011). They regard the father roles in relation to social situation and orientation. As von Briesinski, Walter (2011) state the orientation of traditional values that embraces the group of traditionally rooted fathers, the conservative fathers and the DDR- nostalgics now are in an age in which they don’t have to consider engaging in education anymore. So the orientation groups of modernization and reorientation are in focus.131 The employees can be allocated to and in-between the following
129 Cp. Bourhis, Mekkaoui (2010), p.111 130 Cp. Rambach, 2010, p.73
29 three of the categories: Consumption materialists, bourgeois middle and post- materialists. Most of the fathers working at the company are probably located in the bourgeois middle and the consumption materialists, depending on their position in the company.
Figure 4: Role Models of the “good Father” in Sinus Milieus, Source:
http://www.bmfsfj.de/RedaktionBMFSFJ/Broschuerenstelle/Pdf-Anlagen/vaterschaft-und-elternzeit- endbericht,property=pdf,bereich=bmfsfj,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf, Wertorientierungen zu Vaterschaft in verschiedenen Milieus, in Fegert JM, Liebhardt H et al., Expertise „Elternzeit und Vaterschaft“, Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, p. 12, (Merkle, Tanja, 2011)
Two of the three types of fathers that were mentioned to be important for this investigation are considered as “active fathers”: The bourgeois middleclass father and the post-materialist father. The bourgeois middle-father typically interacts with his children after work and on the weekends. While the mother generally is the one who is managing every-day life with the kids the father predominantly is spending his leisure time with them on the weekends by doing sports for example. The consumption materialist is characterized by a hierarchical understanding of male and female roles.
In a more traditional way, these fathers are the breadwinners and tend to present themselves as family patriarchs. In contrast the post-materialists stand for an equal role understanding. They want to educate their children with the conscience that the time for classical role division is over. They are the ones who most of all
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30 three types experience the balancing act to reconcile job and family as a challenge.132
There are different factors that the individual father figure is based on which are for example lifestyle, value-systems and social background. Additionally the role of the fathers depends on expectation and perspectives for the future133 and the so- called “cultural capital”.134 Parental leave and benefit–regulations therefore are being accepted very differently among a heterogeneous group of fathers.135 The respondents generally regard the employer as helpful and understanding in emergency situations. But the employees identify several lacks concerning the company’s father-friendliness. Some shift workers complain that it is not easy for them to get a day off with short notice. A part of the respondents also would welcome to get more information and would appreciate to attend a family day at the company. A corporate childcare institution and the need for holiday-care opportunities are seen controversial among the fathers.
In summary assumption 3 predominantly can be evaluated to apply for the company. The researcher interprets the interviews the way that most of the respondents belong to the group of active fathers. For those who work in the production neither the flexible working time system nor telework can be applied and to the rest of the staff these benefits are obviously not being sufficiently communicated as family-friendly measures. The men also address their financial needs having worsened by a recent cut in wages. One employee states he would value the implementation of father-friendly benefits as a sign of personal appreciation by the management.
Discussion of Assumption 3
“Especially the financial aspect hinders fathers from taking parental leave or demanding more time for their children.”
It has turned out that the financial aspect de facto is one key issue for the fathers working at the company. Some report that they have to earn additional money in a side job and many see the cut in salaries as a huge problem for financing their families. Therefore the fathers are observing the decrease in wages and especially the dismissals very worried as on the other hand they have to face increasing costs. They specify their concerns regarding particularly high prices for childcare institutions and growing costs for fuel. It is also reported in the interviews that people working in the company had the reputation to be fairly well earning and to
132 Cp. Merkle, 2011, p.12 133 Cp. Merkle, 2011, p.13 134 Merkle, 2011, p.13 135 Cp. Merkle, 2011, p.13
31 not have to worry about money or their job in the past but this picture has changed. Some respondents very openly admit that the financial aspect has a direct influence on their decision for or against parental leave. In summary money is the most dominant aspect that the men mentioned in this context. But at this point the researcher has to take into account that financial problems are a critical aspect concerning validity of the respondents’ replies. Kropp (2001) bears in mind that respondents do not always give impartial answers on interview questions. Especially if the interview or survey is about the employer, respondents sometimes have in mind what the management possibly wants to hear or what kind of statements might cause discussions or a change in the company-atmosphere afterwards.Answers on topics relating to money or salary often serve to detour conflicts that originally have another cause. Criticism of leadership style, working conditions or disputes with colleagues sometimes tends not to be addressed directly. The complaint rather is being expressed by referring to an insufficient payment as this very easily can be communicated and is likely to be accepted by the interviewer without going deeper into the subject.136 This may be true for some of the interviews in this investigation as well but there are additional indicators that support the theory of money impeding men from the decision for parental leave. Some employees reported that childcare and parental leave were up to their wives as the men concentrated on the role of the breadwinner. The reasons for this traditional role division can be very various. On the one hand it is possible that the parents just have a very conservative perspective and keep the values that they have been socialized with. On the other hand the cause can be the problem of Gender Pay Gap which means women are earning less and therefore the role division after the birth of the child is unquestionable.
Figure 5: Evaluation of Change in Law for Parenting Benefit, Source:
http://www.bmfsfj.de/RedaktionBMFSFJ/Abteilung2/Pdf-Anlagen/beeg-evaluation-
endbericht,property=pdf,bereich=bmfsfj,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf, Evaluation des Gesetzes zum Elterngeld und zur Elternzeit, p. 12 (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Endbericht 2008)
136 Cp. Kropp, 2001, p.529
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32 As mentioned, a study of the Hans-Böckler Stiftung (2012) initially was the basis on which the assumption has been formulated. The study gives the following reasons for the short duration of fathers’ parental leave: 68 percent of the respondents who did not take parental leave answered that they didn’t have any opportunity to reduce working time and almost 50 percent replied that they financially didn’t see any chance to take more time off. Following active fathers can only take a longer period of parental leave if they have the monetary opportunity to do so and if they have a supporting employer.137
Figure 5 shows the results of another study of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung that aimed to evaluate the new German Elterngeld-/ Elternzeitgesetz138. It comes to a very similar result as the examination of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung.139 Both studies substantiate the clear statements of the fathers. But the financial aspect is not a problem that is manageable by the company. The main influence factor for this development is the traditional German role model of the father as breadwinner which for a long time was and to a certain extent still is the basis for family policy in the country.140 Kühn (2005) has conducted a study for the Prognos AG that compares German and Swedish family policy. It has to be taken into account that this investigation has been examined before the introduction of the new Elterngeld-, Elternzeit-regulation but part of the core message still seems contemporary as childcare and places in childcare institutions are currently widely-discussed topics. The study indicates that the Swedish model succeeds in giving assistances that not directly concerns the financial situation of the families. A flexible labor market, a facilitated return into the old job and an uncomplicated access to childcare institutions help to decrease the opportunity costs for the parents whereas Germany concentrates predominantly on direct financial incentives like e.g. an increase in child benefit.141 In Sweden women’s role and the attitude towards families have changed. The current legal model has already been implemented 30 years ago but still causes discussions whereas Sweden is quite a liberal country compared to Germany. Hence Kühn (2005) doubts that a change of the regulation can lead to a quick conversion in German policy.142
137 Cp. Böckler Impuls, 2012
138 Own translation: Parenting benefit and parental leave law 139 Cp. Tamm, Kluve, 2008, p.12
140 Cp. Kühn, Palmke, 2005, p.2 141 Cp. Kühn, Palmke, 2005, p.4 142 Cp. Kühn, Palmke, 2005, p.6
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